Luray Caverns (KLUA) Dec 15, 2012

Alan thanks for coming out today. I had a great time!!! Between the refueler not sure of what we were (I was) doing. Refusing to say negative ,"Ghost Rider the pattern is full" when you called in.The refueling Jeep that had to be preheated. The dead Battery, 2 F16's flying below us at super sonic speed , the fun approach into Sky Bryce , The several golf balls that went right and left of course ,the restaurant phone that didn't work on the 9 th hole,kidding you about the voltmeter deflection, Leaving a battery charging next to the ramp as we made a go/no go to go golfing , Bryce telling us they want us back and giving us a raincheck for future use. I don't think it gets any better. ( well atleast till next month when we schedule the next one)
 
This fly-in shall hence forth be known as the "Change of Plans" fly-in! It all started on Friday night when it looked like it was going to be just myself and John Persinger showing up in Luray. I sent John a message asking him if he would like to take his golf clubs and if it turns out to be just the two of us, we could make a "Change of Plans" and fly over to Bryce Resort for golf instead! John replied that he was thinking the exact same thing. Saturday morning dawned a beautiful day and I headed to the airport. I hopped in my plane but the battery had a "Change of Plans!" It wouldn't turn over. No problem, I'll grab the charge box from the FBO. That's always worked in the past. Nope, "Change of Plans." It wasn't fully charged and wouldn't do the trick. I backed my '65 Corvair to the plane and jumped it just fine. I sent a text to John telling him in the "Change of Plans" which would make me a little late. Meanwhile, John arrived at Luray and was going to get fuel. He was going to pull into the fueling station to get fuel but since he might be there awhile since I was going to run late, the lineman told him to make a "Change of Plans" and park on the back 40 lot and he would refuel it later. Guess who showed up right on time? Little ole me! We called the lineman and told him that we had a "Change of Plans" and would be leaving immediately. He said that it would take him a few minutes because he had to preheat the fuel truck. We spent the time comparing airplanes and then the fuel JEEP (not truck) showed up. He started to put fuel in John's plane but soon discovered that the fuel Jeep was out of gas. "Change of Plans" while he went to fuel the Jeep! All fueled and ready to go, we mounted our trusty mice, turned the starter and...................nothing. Thankfully, John carries a battery charger in his plane all the time (along with some dumbbells just in case he gets bored) so we came up with a "Change of Plans!" We took my battery out of the plane and found an outlet to plug the charger into. We left it there, piled my clubs into John's plane and headed to Bryce. Two F-18s flew below us while a buzzard was above us while crossing a ridge. Everything being backwards just seemed to make sense today! I think John must have had some grease on the belly of the plane, so he wiped it off with what leaves remained on the trees on the approach into Bryce! I was sweating so much that as soon as I got out of the plane, I took off my coat and left it there. I blamed it on the warm weather! We paid for our round of golf ($29.00 for 18 holes and cart!) and basically had the entire course to ourselves. After seeing John and I drive off the first tee, everyone headed for the safety of the 19th hole! Pretty much every hole was a "Change of Plans" because we intended to hit the ball straight but rarely ever did! At the end of the 8th hole, there was a telephone to call in your food order for the restaurant. Great idea! Let's order now! "Change of Plans!" The phone didn't work. After 9 holes, we went in and had a nice lunch and discussed our hopes and dreams for the Mid-Atlantic Region. After eating lunch we had (you guessed it) a "Change of Plans." Instead of playing 9 more holes, we decided we had lost so many balls that we might not be able to complete the back 9 so we decided to just skip it and fly back to Luray. When we turned in our cart, they gave us a rain check for the final 9 holes! I highly recommend this place! They loved having us there! For John and I, that's a rarity in itself! The trip back to Luray was actually uneventful and after placing my battery back into the plane, it fired right up! John and I departed Luray and took some aerial photos of each other before heading home. The lesson to be learned from this trip is this. Either John or I will be the next Mid-Atlantic Region Director. If this trip is any indication of how we're going to handle things, you better be flexible!
 
Marty , The Ghost Rider reference was Tom Cruise in Top Gun requesting to Buzz the tower and the Controller says ,Negative Ghost rider the pattern is full. ( Cruise does it anyways and the tower chief spills cofee all over himself.) Real cheesy Hollywood Stuff. Other than an occasional Air Show I don't recall a tower ever being buzzed when I was in the Corps. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdHBsWXaHN8
 
Oh..... a movie. I was in Light Attack Squadron 164 (VA-164 Ghost Riders) in '70-'71. We had A4-F Skyhawks on my first WestPac cruise aboard the USS Hancock CVA-19. I thought there might be a squadron mate in the club. I never saw a Navy plane buzz the tower either. But, it wasn't an uncommon thing to have a guy buzz down the port side of the ship. The F-8s would do it supersonic and knock half the flight deck crew to the deck (reflex reaction - sounds like ordinance going off). Although the A4s could do 1.2M, not with a drop tank and two TERs (triple ejection rack) on the inboard pylon stations. Still, they made plenty of noise going by at high sub-sonic Mach numbers, but you could at least hear them coming. I was told that one of the helicopters tried it once, but nobody noticed.
 
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